


Amphitrite's Heart

by watcherswatchers



Series: Mermaid!Ryan AU [2]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Watcher Entertainment RPF
Genre: Human!Shane, M/M, Mermaid!Ryan, Merman!Ryan, Prompt Fill, word count: less than 1k
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 09:14:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30002649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherswatchers/pseuds/watcherswatchers
Summary: Daily Prompt:Shane and/or Ryan are royal! What time period is it? Is one of them a prince, and one of them a stablehand? A duke?
Relationships: Ryan Bergara & Shane Madej, Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Series: Mermaid!Ryan AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2207031
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	Amphitrite's Heart

Shane looked around beneath the water. Sometimes, he still caught himself holding his breath as the waves rolled over them. It was something that had taken getting used to, along with the whole constant swimming thing.

Ryan was swimming circles around him— literally. He bobbed and weaved through the water, swimming under Shane, over him, tracing his tail over Shane’s skin. He giggled and laughed through the water, his hair swirling around him. Shane was truly enamored.

They swam near a dolphin at one point and Ryan coaxed the dolphin to blow bubbles for Ryan to swim through. Ryan was so playful under the water, he was nothing like he’d been on the ship.

To be fair, he’d been a captive.

Shane’s legs were getting tired, the swimming taking a toll on him. He didn’t know how much farther it was to Ryan’s home, but he wasn’t sure his body could take it.

“Ryan,” he called, and Ryan immediately stopped. “I—” He took a shaky breath. “How much farther until we’re to your home? I’m—” He cut himself off but Ryan could hear the exhaustion in his voice. Plus, he was having trouble breathing again. The magic was wearing off.

“I’ll get you to the shore, okay?” Ryan looked around, trying to gauge where they were. “We’re close to a cave, I think.” He grabbed Shane’s hand and tugged him towards the surface. “Come on.”

Shane followed Ryan. It was far easier to push himself up to the surface than it was to fight his way through the water. They breeched the water and Shane gasped, trying to push the water from his lungs. The spell was wearing off and Shane was choking out the water.

“We got you here just in time,” Ryan said. “Thank you for not trying to save face.” He helped Shane kick to the shore and yanked him up onto the surf-smoothed rocks. “I’m so sorry.”

Shane laid out on the rock. His whole body ached. He clasped his hands on his chest and laid in silence, staring up at the moon. “ t’s okay,” he mumbled tiredly.

Ryan’s head suddenly jerked to stare out into the ocean.

“You okay?” Shane asked him, fighting to lift his head and look at Ryan.

Ryan turned back to Shane and painted on a smile. “Yeah, I’m alright,” he said. He stared out at the ocean again, his head cocking slightly from side to side. Ryan pulled himself up on a rock beside Shane and waved his fins gently in the water.

“You’re lying,” Shane said. “What is it?”

“We’re close to the kingdom,” Ryan said. “I can feel my people calling to me. I— Mama is crying for me.” He sighed. His tail was a bit more faded than it had been in the water. “They aren’t answering me. They must not be able to hear me yet.” Ryan looked down at Shane and laid back on the rock with Shane.

“Can everyone hear from far away?”

Ryan shook his head. “No, just the royals. That must be why they can’t hear me.”

Shane nodded. “Gotcha.” They sat in silence for a while, Shane staring up at the stars. “Wait a second,” he said, jerking up to look at Ryan. “You said you can hear them, but they can’t hear you. You’re a royal?”

Ryan smiled sheepishly. “Prince Ryan,” he said, sitting up beside Shane, “at your service.” He did as close an approximation of a bow as he could sitting down. He laid back down. “Can we not make a big deal about it?”

“Yeah, no, sure.” Shane laid back down. “What were you doing so far out of the kingdom? The ship was around this area when you were captured.”

Ryan huffed a wry laugh. “I was watching you. I’ve always been interested in humans, careful to see them from far enough away that they couldn’t see me, but I got my fins caught in your fishing nets. That’s when they threw out the other net to catch me.”

“I never want to see you like that again,” Shane said. He looked over at Ryan. “Stay away from us humans; we’re shit.”

“ _You’re_ not,” Ryan said simply. “You can’t all be bad.”

Shane hummed. “Yeah, well… to them I was no more human than you are. I was captive, same as you. That’s why I didn’t care what they did to me as punishment for talking to you.” Shane breathed in a breath that hitched in his throat.

Ryan rolled over and set his head on Shane’s chest. “I’ll find a way to save you. I’ll— Mama and Papa have to be able to do something.”

Shane wheezed. “Yeah, I feel like being king and queen has those perks.”

Ryan laughed and shoved Shane’s side. He settled back down on Shane’s chest, the gentle thrumming of his heart against Ryan’s ear. “I’ll stay on land if they can’t do anything for you.”

“Ryan, you can’t leave your family,” Shane said, threading his fingers in Ryan’s long curls. He held his hand there, a steady weight on Ryan’s head.

“Then we’ll set up a house close to here,” Ryan said. “You saved my life; I’m not just going to let you go live in a box in solitude somewhere.” Ryan wrapped his tail over Shane’s legs, covering him. “We’ll figure it out, you and me.”


End file.
